MyE28.com

rmiddendorf wrote:

Mike W. wrote:Glad to help, hope I didn't come off too harsh.

From you I never had that thought.

emwexler? Well I'd might have thought it was a little harsh.

From oldskool I'd have just thought he was typing out of his butt.

And if it were wkohler I'd have added it to my gospel.

Like Mike W said, 4-7 sec isn't much to worry about. I would do a fresh oil change with Bradd Penn or Joe Gibs 20-50. Most auto stores tend to sell 10-40 to people (and our engines require 20-50), which could be the case with yours if you are not sure of the history.

Use a bottle of lucas oil stabilizer, it will help keep parts in the head coated in oil and avoid dry starts.

If you want, replace the sender, its cheap.

Great clarity on this thread. I agree on the angle of the car- with the front end up it takes a lot longer. I also like the Lucas Oil additive idea.

He's another thing to to try, how long does it take for the light to go out if you shut the motor off but leave the key in first position for the oil light to activate again. As it spins down to no rotation a healthy motor with the right weight oil will actually take a few seconds if it is holding oil pressure well. One that is looser (not necessarily bad) may go out even before the engine stops turning.

Just before the last oil change the light was taking over ten seconds to go out. The oil level was low - sometimes the low oil light on the check panel would turn on. After I changed the oil the level was right at the top mark on the dipstick, and now the light goes out after a couple of seconds.

The car has 581k miles, and I change the oil every 10k miles. I don't know if the oil pressure problem was low oil, old oil (Mobil 1 15W50, replaced with same), or a mess-up with the O-ring when I installed the filter for the previous oil change.

RonW- are you checking the level of the oil when the light comes on? I wouldn't be comfortable not. I suppose its another sensor to fail as well.

rmiddendorf wrote:RonW- are you checking the level of the oil when the light comes on? I wouldn't be comfortable not. I suppose its another sensor to fail as well.

I assume you're talking about the oil level light, not the oil pressure light. I checked it about a week before the light came on, and it was just about at the lower mark on the dipstick. Since I was about to change the oil, I didn't bother topping it off.